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2014 Season
The 2014 World Rally Championship season will be the forty-second season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and drivers will contest thirteen rallies across four continents, competing for the FIA World Rally Championships for Drivers and Manufacturers. The WRC-2, WRC-3 and Junior WRC championships will all be run in support of the premier championship. The 2014 season will see Hyundai return to the championship as a manufacturer for the first time since the 2003 season. The Rally of Poland will return to the calendar after a five-year absence, replacing the Acropolis Rally. Sébastien Ogier will start the season as the defending drivers' champion. His team, Volkswagen Motorsport, will start the season as the defending manufacturers' champions. Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers are scheduled to compete in the World Rally Championship during the 2014 season: Team changes * Citroën will scale back its involvement in the championship, limiting its programme to two full-time works-supported cars, with a third car entered in selected events. As a result, its customer car programme will be brought to an end. The decision to reduce its commitment to the WRC stemmed from Citroën's expansion into the World Touring Car Championship and the logistical challenges of establishing itself in a new series. * Martin Prokop's M-Sport-supported Czech National Team will expand to enter a second Ford Fiesta RS WRC at selected events throughout the season. The second car will compete under the name "Slovakia World Rally Team". * Korean car manufacturer Hyundai will return to the championship as a manufacturer team, competing with the i20 WRC. The Hyundai World Rally Team had originally planned to compete with two full-time entries, but later expanded to include two part-time entries as well. Hyundai had previously competed in the WRC with the Hyundai Accent WRC from 2000 to 2003. * The Qatar World Rally Team and Lotos Team WRC will not start the season. Driver changes * Nasser Al-Attiyah will not start the season after the Qatar World Rally Team did not submit an entry and the Qatari government ended its sponsorship of M-Sport. * Chris Atkinson will join Hyundai on a part-time basis, competing in selected events including Rally Australia. Atkinson will share the team's second entry with Dani Sordo and Juho Hänninen. * 2012 Super 2000 World Rally Champion Craig Breen will make his debut in a World Rally Car-specification car at the Rally of Sweden * Elfyn Evans, who won the Junior World Rally Championship in 2012 and placed seventh overall in the 2013 World Rally Championship-2 season will join M-Sport. * Juho Hänninen, who contested three events in 2013 with Qatar World Rally Team, will compete at selected events in 2014 with Hyundai. Hänninen will share the car with Dani Sordo and Chris Atkinson. Hänninen will make his first appearance for the team at the Rally of Sweden. * Mikko Hirvonen lost his seat at Citroën after two seasons with the team. He will return to M-Sport, the team he competed with from 2006 to 2011, when it was known as the Ford World Rally Team. * Former Formula One driver and reigning World Rally Championship-2 champion Robert Kubica will join the sport's top tier of competition in 2014, driving an M-Sport-prepared Ford Fiesta RS WRC as a satellite team of M-Sport. * After taking part in selected events during the 2013 season, nine-time World Drivers' Champion Sébastien Loeb will leave the World Rally Championship, moving to the World Touring Car Championship with Citroën Racing. * Kris Meeke will return to full-time competition, joining Citroën after making guest appearances in the team's third car in 2013. * Slovakian driver Jaroslav Melichárek will make his WRC debut, driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC run by the Jipocar Czech National Team under the name "Slovakia World Rally Team". Melichárek had previously campaigned a Citroën C4 WRC in the Czech and Slovakian national championships before joining the team. * Thierry Neuville will leave the Qatar World Rally Team to join Hyundai's works team. * Evgeny Novikov lost his seat with M-Sport. He ruled out contesting the full 2014 season as he focused on securing funds for a drive in 2015, but expressed a willingness to make guest appearances at selected events. * Mads Østberg will leave M-Sport after two seasons competing for Ford-backed teams M-Sport and Adapta. He will be driving for Citroën alongside Kris Meeke. * 2011 Production Car World Rally Champion Hayden Paddon will compete part-time throughout the 2014 season, driving an i20 WRC. * Dani Sordo will leave Citroën for Hyundai, sharing the team's second entry with Chris Atkinson and Juho Hänninen. Sordo will be the first of the three to drive the i20 WRC, starting the Rallye Monte Carlo. * Ott Tänak will return to the World Rally Championship, contesting selected events in a privately entered Ford Fiesta RS WRC whilst campaigning in the WRC-2 series with a Fiesta R5. Calendar The 2014 calendar was announced at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Croatia on 27 September 2013. The season will be contested over thirteen rounds in Europe, North and South America and Australia. Calendar changes * Rally Australia and Rally New Zealand will abandon the event-sharing arrangement established in 2008 that saw each event host a round of the championship every other year. After hosting an event in 2013, Rally Australia will remain on the calendar throughout 2014 and 2015 before the arrangement is due to be renegotiated. * The Rallye Monte Carlo will relocate its base from Valence in the French province of Rhône-Alpes to the town of Gap in the neighbouring province of Hautes-Alpes. * The 2014 calendar will see the Rally of Poland return to the championship for the first time since 2009. The event will also cross the border into Lithuania for one day of competition. Its inclusion came at the expense of the Acropolis Rally, which was removed after struggling with its financial obligations to the championship. The Acropolis Rally later moved to the European Rally Championship for the 2014 season. The rallies of Brazil and China had also been considered for inclusion on the WRC calendar before the FIA approved of the Rally of Poland. Standings so far FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers References Category:Seasons